Butterflies
Butterfly people were a race of humanoid creatures who lived in the forests of the Darklands. Though their existence was largely thought to be mythical, they were known to have large, colorful wings, like true butterflies, and long, slender antenna upon their heads. Biology Butterfly people had two large anterior wings and two smaller posterior wings that came in a wide variety of colors and patterns. Aside from their wings and antennae, they were human in appearance, though their skin tones tended to be closer to the pink side of the spectrum. Butterfly blood was likewise pink in color. Butterflies began their lives as grublings, which grew into baby caterpillars. Their young would eventually undergo a cocoon stage at around nine or ten years of age, during which time they developed wings and learned to fly. Butterflies could live for around three hundred years, though butterflies who were significantly advanced in age exhibited shriveled wings and an inability to take flight. Butterflies reached sexual maturation at around one hundred years of age. Butterflies reproduced much in the same was as humans, but with the added component of llenleth, a telepathic ability to temporarily join minds. When mating, they preferred to couple together in mid-flight. They could also use llenleth in its own in order to quickly acquire information from a subject's mind, including his moods, feelings, or even his spoken language. The butterfly diet consisted mostly of seeds and fruits and other offerings from the forest. Their primary sustinence was the nectar made from the pollen of starflower blossoms, and were unable to survive for long periods of time without it. Perhaps due to their fondness for nectar, the butterflies themselves were purported to taste sweet. The flavor of their skin or wing dust has been likened to honey or cotton candy. Butterflies were capable of uttering a primal scream that could be heard from long distances, alerting the others to dire circumstances if necessary. Butterflies achieved flight by leaping into the air, using their wings alternatively as hang-gliders or flapping them in the same manner as birds. They possessed an acute "direction sense" that allowed them to use the wind currents to their advantage. Butterflies were capable of flying for days at a time if necessary, though short flights were preferable and less exhausting. When flying, they lost their direction sense during heavy snowfall. Culture Butterfly people did not believe in using proper names. The decision to eliminate them from their culture stemmed from their dislike of labels, which limited a person and his or her ability to grow and change. One significant holdover from a bygone era was the Flightless One, whose name was well-known to members of the butterfly colony. For similar reasons, they disliked assigning numerical values to denote age. Butterflies prefered to live in seclusion, hiding in the forest and limiting their dealings with other members of the Greater Races. They disliked the Dwarf desire to excavate through the ground or the Human tendency to colonize and expand their territory. Butterflies believed in communing with nature, living in harmony with their world. They did not believe in eating meat of any kind, and disliked harming live plants as well. They inhabited the trunks of gigantic petrified trees (sleeping in the cocoons left over from their chrysalis stages), but did not believe in cutting them down to build things. Butterfly people generally lived as nudists, though they sometimes wore simple woven textiles or fallen feathers or sea shells. Butterflies used a sophisticated circular chart with differently-colored gems arranged in different positions. They used this chart to track the passage of time, document their storehouses of inventory, and leave messages to one another. The butterfly people had a symbiotic relationship with the pixies, who also lived in the forest. The butterfly people protected the pixies from predators, and in exchange, the pixies provided the butterflies with weapons and armor made from bloodrock gems. History In the wake of the Cataclysm that caused a gigantic rift in the Earth, referred to some as the Great Divide, the butterfly race was forever divided. Many butterflies disappeared into the Great Divide; their fate forever remained a mystery. One group traveled to the South and inhabited the Darklands, eventually becoming the butterfly colony led by the butterfly princess, Mariposa. Another group was forced North into the harsh landscape of the Golden Desert and, over many generations, their evolution diverged into what is now known as the moth race. Yet another group traveled to a forest farther North, but the wayward colonies remained unaware of each other. The butterfly colony of the Darklands was led by the Butterfly Queen, but over time, she began to suffer from a unknown malady that poisioned her mind and caused her to put the safety of the other butterflies at risk. The queen's daughter was forced to stand up to her and, after being attacked, defend herself with lethal force. The butterfly princess took the queen's place as leader of the colony. It is possible that butterfly sighting by humans inspired their own stories and myths about angels. The Lost Treasure of Torlynn During Mariposa's absence from the butterfly grotto, the colony of butterfly people was captured by a band of moths, who had coerced the secret location of the grotto from a captive pirate cartographer named Christabel. En route to the Golden Desert, the moths were ambushed by human knights from Torlynn, and in the resultant battle, many of the butterflies were killed. The surviving butterflies were captured by the Torlynn knights and taken prisoner inside Torlynn castle. By the time Mariposa was able to rescue them, her once-thriving colony, formerly numbering in the dozens, had dwindled to seven members. The Quest for the World-Breaker Mariposa feared for the extinction of the butterfly race until she learned that there were other butterfly colonies still living in the world. She sought out the Flightless One to discover the location of the other butterfly settlements, but she would not find one until she stumbled upon a desert oasis whose waters tasted faintly of starflowers. Following the water to its source revealed a previously undiscovered and thriving butterfly settlement. Mariposa's remaining colony members were invited to relocate. Behind the Scenes Mariposa suggests in The Quest for the World-Breaker that it seems strange to her that humans have shoulder blades but no wings attached to them, implying that she believes humans evolved from butterflies. In truth, it's probably the other way around. Category:Races Category:Greater Races